Pictures by Divya

August 20, 2013 by Howard Dale Posted in People Tagged gallery Leave a comment

These three pictures were taken by my granddaughter Divya. For the first two she used her father’s (that’s him in the second picture) Nikon D80 and the third one (of our cat, Gypsy) an iphone. She’s three years old! Having said that her paternal grandfather is a prominent architect and her aunt is also an artist so maybe it’s genetic. Perhaps it’s time I gave up photography (that’s me in the first picture incidentally – one of the rare occasions where I’m in the picture).

Colin

Gypsy

Niagara Falls

August 18, 2013 by Howard Dale Posted in Places Tagged gallery Leave a comment

Chief Clinton Rickard who founded the Indian Defense League in 1926

Although I’ve lived in New York for over thirty years I had never been to Niagara Falls. We visited my brother-in-law in Rochester, NY last week and since Niagara Falls is only about 90 miles from Rochester we decided to go. I must say that it’s pretty spectacular. Since some of us didn’t have passports with us so we were restricted to the US side (I’m told the view from the Canadian side is more spectacular). We took one of the “Maid of the Mist” boats that go up past the American Falls and get quite close to the Horseshoe Falls. Close up and from river level you really get a sense for the amount and the power of the water coming over the falls. You also get quite wet, but thoughtfully the owners give you blue plastic souvenir ponchos to keep you dry. You can even keep them. All in all a very pleasant visit.

American Falls on the left with Horseshoe Falls in the background.

Wider view of the Falls

Maids of the Mist

American Falls from the boat

Closer view of the Horseshoe Falls

Maid of the Mist from water level

Closer view of the American Falls from above

GAS attack gone wrong part two: Yashica FX-3?

August 17, 2013 by Howard Dale Posted in Camera Collection, Yashica FX-3 Tagged gallery Leave a comment

In part one of this post I documented how I had bought a Yashica FX-2 in a Goodwill store for $9.99 only to find that the lens was stuck on f1.9 and the 1/1000 second shutter speed didn’t work. I ended that post saying that I was looking for a lens that worked. Well I found one: a 50mm f1.7 ML (a much better lens than the one on the FX-2 even when it worked properly). This one also came with a Yashica FX-3 body attached, two additional lenses (a 45-75mm ML zoom and a 50mm f2 ML) , a flash, a nice camera case, a camera bag and some manuals. All for $5.99. The leatherette has come off the body (I believe a common problem with old Yashicas and even the much more expensive Contaxs). It leaves a kind of fuzzy covering that I don’t find unpleasant. I can always recover it if I feel the need. There’s also a ding on the filter ring of the 50mm f1.7 lens that doesn’t seem to affect it’s performance although it does make it difficult/impossible to put screw-in filters on. The light seals look as if they will need replacing at some point.

So much for cosmetics. Does the thing actually work? Or does it have hidden problems like the FX-2. I took it out to try it and I’m pleased to say that it works perfectly. I tried all the shutter speeds, and all the aperture settings. Everything works fine. The focus is smooth. No light leaks. The results are below. Any failings with the pictures are the fault of the photographer and not the camera. I used a ten year old roll of Kodak Gold 200 that I found in a box while cleaning out the garage, had processed an scanned and then converted to black and white myself.

Urn

Bench

Rock Face

Toy Turtle on a Rock

Trellis

Fallen Tree

Grasses

Bridge to the lake

Flower

Some flowers in our garden

August 15, 2013 by Howard Dale Posted in Things Tagged gallery Leave a comment

Black eyed susans (rudbeckia)

Knockout rose

Trying out a new Yashica 50mm f1.7 ML on the NEX before putting it on the Yashica FX-3 body. The nearest things to try it on were the flowers in our garden.

Balloon flowers

Easy to Love Rose

Blue Lobelias

Graham Thomas Rose

Double Knockout tree rose

Panasonic Lumix LX-3

July 26, 2013 by Howard Dale Posted in Camera Collection, Cameras, Panasonic Lumix LX3 Tagged gallery Leave a comment

Panasonic Lumix LX3 with its excellent wide angle adapter.

I owe a lot to this camera. Somewhere along the line I’d lost interest in photography. Over the years I’d gone from the Minolta 7sii rangefinder that got me started, to a film SLR (Canon AE-1) and then to digital (Maxxum D SLR and Canon Powershot S-50). I’d also picked up a used Rolleiflex on a whim, but only used it once or twice – but that’s another story. I’d reached a point where I rarely went out to take photos, and was even reluctant to take a camera on vacations, family events etc. I’m not entirely sure why I lost interest. As I had moved to SLRs they had gotten bigger (the bodies and especially the lenses) and I no longer wanted to lug all of this stuff around.

More importantly perhaps was that I was dissatisfied with my pictures because I couldn’t entirely control the results. I never developed my own film and so I was always at the mercy of the labs. Even with digital images I had rarely post processed (even though I had copies of an older version of photoshop and also Photoshop Elements.)

I’d stopped carrying around the SLRs and pretty much restricted myself to the Canon. Then I was in Switzerland for my younger daughter’s wedding and I left the Canon in a taxi. It was later returned to me and I eventually gave it to my grandson, but for a while I was without a small, carry around camera. So I did some research and decided to get the LX3. I was very impressed with the results. I liked that it was small enough to carry around; it has a great f2.0 lens; 10 megapixel resolution; multiple aspect ratios; good macro and wide angle performance.

Although the LX3 is a wonderful camera there are still things about it I don’t like including: It’s small but still a little too large to comfortably carry around in a pocket; Noise starts to get bad above ISO 400; The zoom range (24-60mm equivalent) is a bit short;The LCD screen is almost impossible to see in bright sunlight and the only viewfinder option is a fixed 24mm optical.

The LX3 pretty much solved the portability problem. When I got this camera I also started to use RAW format files and Adobe Lightroom. This combination gave me much of the control I was lacking. Not all of it though. I still haven’t fully mastered digital printing.

Overall I was more than satisfied and I started taking pictures again – lots of them. It came at just the right time. With retirement looming I needed a hobby – something to occupy my time. Suddenly I was back into photography with a vengeance. Not just taking pictures, but studying the philosophy of photography, the history of photography etc. I even got into vintage cameras and started using film again. I’m now retired and spend a lot ob my time on “things photographic”. I don’t know if this would have been the case without this camera.